Metroid Dread

The only adventure I've gone through with Samus was Super Metroid and I greatly enjoyed it. However I was immediately dethroned for me by Metroid Dread. The visuals are positively stunning, the bosses and enemies are a tough challenge, the secrets you can find in every corner are rewarding and give you a sense of accomplishment and power, the music is brilliantly done, the game is (for the average player) around 8-11 hours long which means when you master it you can breeze through it in a few hours. This narrowly claimed my game of the year (with Halo Infinite being nearly, nearly as good of a game) but honestly, it deserves it and I am patiently (not really though) awaiting for Metroid Prime 4... I'll just have to wait about six years, but it'll be fine!

Metroid Dread is an extremely fun action adventure game, with fluid combat and snappy movement. Beams are fun to use with the 360-degree aiming. The slide move is a welcome addition that keeps the momentum going. The bosses are challenging but satisfying to beat. They require you to learn the pattern, and master the fight. But it is slightly disappointing as a Metroid game. Notably, the atmosphere is not very prevalent. I wasn't as immersed in the world, and the soundtrack was less memorable (though it did grow on me). Areas were more distinct and interesting looking than Samus Returns, with good variety, but I just wasn't immersed like the other games. The counter indicator and constant (loud) combat with smaller enemies took the focus away from exploring an alien world. I felt that there weren't as many moments with a moody, oppressive atmosphere that I just wanted to soak in. The game is also fairly linear, even though it takes you through many different areas. You go on a relatively straight path, with little option to do another area first (like in Super Metroid). This could've worked if the game had a more intricate story (like in Metroid Fusion), but there isn't much of one to be found. However, the planet is still extremely fun to explore, thanks to items being placed in every nook and cranny. With fun puzzles to solve to get them. The speed booster in particular had lots of satisfying item puzzles, that took advantage of the movement. The power-ups were all useful, and fun to use. It might be a nitpick, but the graphics look sort of plasticy, and the art style is less grimy and detailed than say, the Metroid Prime games (which were also 3D, on notably less powerful hardware). The backgrounds do look phenomenal, and there's plenty to see, but I felt like the character models could've looked a little bit better. I prefer Metroid to have disgusting, scary looking enemies, but I felt like there was a little bit of missed potential for that here (though that's definitely a nitpick). The EMMI sections were satisfying, and intense. The fights with the robots were especially engaging (partially because of the dynamic camera angle). However, they certainly didn't build much dread, and didn't have as oppressive of an atmosphere as I would've liked. They stay the same throughout the whole game, with little variation to keep you on your toes (to be fair, each one uses a different power-up). They always stay within their zone (which all look the same), and they all have pretty much the same design (just with different colors). Compare this to the SA-X in Metroid Fusion, which showed up unexpectedly (on a first playthrough), in various environments, and you didn't know when it would appear next. I felt that there was a missed potential to really play into that "dread" the game is named after. What if one of the EMMI broke out of its zone unexpectedly, or were infused with the X and took on a more disturbing design? I just felt that there could've been more surprises with them. Though again, I have to admit they were fun, just not "dread" inducing. Bringing up the story again, I felt that it was less impactful then the two previous numbered entries. The cutscenes were very well choreographed, had lots of personality, and we're action packed. But there wasn't much of a narrative, even compared to Super Metroid (which was on the SNES). There were twists to be sure, but nothing was built up. Some new characters were introduced, but they barely interact with Samus, or offer much personality. Even the mandatory sections were Samus must talk to Adam, offer little in the way of character interaction, or expand on the world. The dialogue between Adam and Samus is missing the personality and charm that Fusion had, though to be fair, there is technically a reason for that (if you've beaten the game, you know what I mean). I also think 1-2 text based monologues (like Fusion), would've been decent here, since Samus is seeing the race that raised her, unexpected alive and well. I would've liked to hear a tiny bit of her thoughts. Though definitely not like in Other M. But overall, nitpicks aside, this is still a great game, and I'm glad Metroid is back. It was extremely satisfying to play. I just hope the next entry, will be slightly more atmospheric, than this one.

I really love the environment of this Metroid game! Aside from Metroid Prime 2, this has my favorite atmosphere and artwork. I'll admit this game is really difficult and I've had to put it down several times over the course of these last few years but what can I say? Too many awesome games came out in that time. But I've revisited Metroid Dread and made more and more progress every time I get readdicted to it. I'm a working man with adult responsibilities, sorry I don't have the time to play games as I did when I was young.

But this was a welcome return to the sci-fi horror that Metroid was known for! Samus is like the female version of Doomguy, she's awesome! She can stare down these horrible looking aliens or killer robots, find a way to kick their butts and get even stronger. And all she has is an arm cannon. Even Doomguy has dozens of guns at his disposal to help him, Samus just had the one arm cannon.

Gameplay is fast and fun. The frame rate is smooth as silk, more so than most AAA titles these days. The design of the areas are simple ingenious. It's rare a game will reward me for my curiosity with a missile expansion or a life health expansion.

The side scrolling is a welcome return to form for the franchise! Since Metroid Fusion is one of my favorite nostalgic games. If they made a remaster of all the previous mainline Metroid games for the switch with these graphics, I'd buy that in a heartbeat. Heck, if they announced it was coming the following year, I'd put my name down to get notified when preorders were available.

Sci-fi horror video games should be just as accepted by media appreciators as sci-fi horror films. Metroid Dread did for sci-fi horror what the original Alien (1979) did for sci-fi horror. This game is like Alien (1979) and The Terminator (1984) had a baby.

With updated graphics, we really see what the franchise was trying to do all along; get us a little frightened by the quiet of space and alien planets as well as detail the worlds just enough to where we could know where to go.

T rated Metroid is back, baby!

After 19 long years, Metroid Dread has finally arrived, and it's everything fans of Samus Aran's 2D adventures could have wanted. Excellent controls, phenomenal visuals, and an interesting story combine to make a challenging, but rewarding package. 19 years was a long time to wait, but this title is good enough that it almost makes up for that.

Dread has most fluid gameplay and fast paced gameplay of every game I've played. Puzzle elements are nice and simple, this game is linear without it being linear. There are no points of the game where I felt extremely lost. If there is one gripe I have with the game is that the E. M. M. I are very good at killing you. The E. M. M. I sections are a bit too frequent but not by much. I would recommend this game to anyone, just make sure that you don't have anxiety or scare easily.